The following interview was conducted by a reporter for the Al-Jazeera network with the third-in-command of the Al Queda organization, Mr. Mohammed Al-Asuquf. Al-Asuquf's background is impressive; a doctorate in physics and masters in international economics. In the interview, he talks of Al Queda's plans with total detachment, with deep knowledge and an unshakeable commitment to his cause. This interview was sent to Abel-Bari Atwan, chief editor of Al Quds, an Arabic-language newspaper published in London, but was never printed, due to its highly revealing [inflammatory?] contents. A copy of the interview came to Foz-do-Iguaçu, and was translated into Portuguese by a university professor in the city's Arab community. This is probably the only existing version of this interview not in Arabic.

Al-Jazeera: What is the objective of the Al Queda network?

Al-Asuquf: To destroy the Great Satan, that is, the United States and Israel.

Al-Jazeera: Why?

Al-Asuquf: The USA over the past 60 years has been impregnating [infecting] the world with its arrogance, greed and malfeasance. It is the incarnation of all that is evil. The people of this planet don't deserve this torture.

Al-Jazeera: Isn't this view somewhat one-sided?

Al-Asuquf: No; one only has to observe recent events. The disrespect of the Kyoto treaty; the case of the Permanent Court of International Justice, their inaction with regards to our Palestinian brothers; the financial greed and absurd speculations in Third World countries; the complete indifference to other oppressed people and countless other situations which all of the world's leaders well know. And on top of all that, the Bush doctrine of "shoot first and ask questions later." This is an unacceptable abuse and will therefore have very grave consequences.

Al-Jazeera: But the isn't the development and influence of America the fruit of its own competence?

Al-Asuquf: Competence in extortion, competence in subjugation, competence in lying. After the Second World War, the USA was the only industrialized country with its manufacturing infrastructure intact. Loaning money like a good loan shark, it ended up becoming a very rich and powerful country; however, its greed remained undiminished. Today, Americans live like maharajas [?], wasting more than any other people, spending more than $80 billion per year just on gambling. They've lost any notion of spirituality and live in constant sin. With each passing day the USA demonstrates that it doesn't know how to live with other peoples; for this, it deserves destruction.

Al-Jazeera: Wouldn't it be easier to simply assassinate President George Bush?

Al-Asuquf: In the first place, it would do no good, other than turning him into a martyr. When you face a powerful enemy, the best strategy is not to kill him, but to make him lose his leadership due to his incompetence, and let him live to watch this unfold.

Al-Jazeera: Does the Al Queda network have the military capacity to make war on the United States?

Al-Asuquf: If we analyze history, we will see that all great wars, before they were started, were based on previously established concepts [of war]. But if we observe well, we will see that these concepts and strategies came to nothing, since a new type of war was ultimately waged. An example is the construction of the Maginot line by the French before the First World War, which, in reality proved to be completely useless against the invading forces. Aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines, and spy satellites will be useless in the next war.

Al-Jazeera: American authorities hold more than 1,000 people suspected of terrorism since September 11th. Won't this compromise Al Queda's plans?

Al-Asuquf: Of those imprisoned, perhaps 20 to 30 percent belong to Al Queda. Moreover, they are from the second echelon. We have more than 500 members of the first echelon and 800 from the second, inside the United States.

Al-Jazeera: What do you mean by first and second echelons?

Al-Asuquf: In the first echelon are Al Queda members who have been in the United States for more than 10 years, many married with children. They have detailed knowledge of our plans and are just waiting for a phone call. They are also known as "sleepers." Those of the second echelon have arrived in the last five years and have no idea of our plans.

Al-Jazeera: Are even those who are married, with children, ready to die with their families?

Al-Asuquf: Yes. All of them are ready to die. Long live September 11th.

Al-Jazeera: What was September 11th to Al Queda's overall plans?

Al-Asuquf: As a general step, it was just the beginning. It was a way of calling the world's attention to what is still to come.

Al-Jazeera: How many members does Al Queda have?

Al-Asuquf: In the first echelon, about 5,000; in the second, about 20,000, all over the world.

Al-Jazeera: In the detention camp at Guantanamo, are there any members of the first echelon?

Al-Asuquf: No, in fact, many of those there are not even Al Queda members.

Al-Jazeera: How does Al Queda intend to destroy the most powerful nation in history?

Al-Asuquf: It's a question of logistics. Using its own poison, that is, attacking the heart of what they consider the most important thing in the world: money.

Al-Jazeera: How so?

Al-Asuquf: The American economy is an economy of false appearances. There is no real economic ballast to the American economy. The American GDP of is something around $10 trillion, of which just 1 percent represents agriculture, and just 24 percent represents industry. Therefore, 75 percent of the American GDP is service and most of this is financial speculation. For those who understand economics, and it appears that the American Secretary of the Treasury, Paul O'Neil, doesn't or doesn't see it, it's enough to say that the USA acts like a huge "dot-com," and dollars, strictly speaking, are its shares.

Al-Jazeera: Can you explain that?

Al-Asuquf: The value of a company's shares is directly proportional to the profitability of the enterprise. When a business is just a service provider and doesn't produce any durable goods, the value of its shares depends on its credibility. Which is to say that if the credibility of the USA were shaken, its shares (the dollar) would fall with incredible rapidity and the entire American economy would begin to collapse.

Al-Jazeera: How can you be so sure of this?

Al-Asuquf: On a smaller scale, it's exactly what large financial groups do to the countries of the third world to reap profits in one month that Swiss banks couldn't get in four or five years.

Al-Jazeera: So how will Al Queda shock the American economy to this point?

Al-Asuquf: By provoking a deficit of between $50 and $70 trillion dollars, the equivalent of the United States' GDP for five to seven years.

Al-Jazeera: How will this be done?

Al-Asuquf: With the destruction of the seven largest American cities, along with other measures.

Al-Jazeera: By what means will this be done?

Al-Asuquf: Using atomic bombs.

Al-Jazeera: With all of the security in the USA, how, hypothetically, will these bombs be smuggled onto American soil?

Al-Asuquf: They won't be smuggled in, they're already there.

Al-Jazeera: What are you saying?

Al-Asuquf: There are already seven nuclear devices on American soil which were put in place before September 11th and are ready to be detonated.

Al-Jazeera: How did they get in to the USA?

Al-Asuquf: Before September 11, American security was a fiasco, and even after, were it necessary, we could manage to smuggle bombs into the United States. They entered through seaports, as normal cargo.

Al-Jazeera: How is that possible?

Al-Asuquf: A nuclear device is no bigger than a refrigerator; therefore, it can be easily camouflaged as one. Millions of cargo containers arrive in seaports each day, and no matter how efficient security is, it's impossible to check, search through and examine each container.

Al-Jazeera: Where did these atomic bombs come from?

Al-Asuquf: They were purchased on the black market.

Al-Jazeera: From whom?

Al-Asuquf: We bought five from the defunct Soviet Union and two more from Pakistan.

Al-Jazeera: How is it possible to buy an atomic bomb? Isn't there security?

Al-Asuquf: Before 1989 it was practically impossible, however after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Russian army began a process of self destruction, and some high generals began to lose their privileges, and therefore, highly susceptible to corruption. Even General Lebeb, now deceased, and Hans Blix, the head of the arms inspection commission of the United Nations, have stated this, notwithstanding denials by Russian Defense Minister Seguey Ivanov.

Al-Jazeera: How much does a nuclear bomb cost?

Al-Asuquf: Somewhere around $200 million.

Al-Jazeera: How did Al Queda get this money?

Al-Asuquf: We have numerous sponsors.

Al-Jazeera: Who are they?

Al-Asuquf: There are a number of countries which support us, and also numerous wealthy individuals.

Al-Jazeera: Are all of these countries Arab?

Al-Asuquf: No, there are some European countries as well which have an interest in the fall of the USA.

Al-Jazeera: Who are these wealthy individuals?

Al-Asuquf: People who are also tired of watching the USA suck the wealth out of the rest of the world.

Al-Jazeera: Is Saddam Hussein one of them?

Al-Asuquf: You could say that he's just one of the collaborators, through Abdul Tawab Mullah Hawaish, his vice-prime minister and the person responsible for Iraq's arms program.

Al-Jazeera: Are these atomic bombs powerful ones?

Al-Asuquf: The five Russian devices are from the old T-3 missiles, also known as RD-107s, and their potency is something around 100 kilotons each, that is, 5 times as powerful as the Hiroshima bomb. The Pakistani bombs are less powerful, somewhere around 10 kilotons.

Al-Jazeera: Can't the bombs be detected and disarmed by American authorities?

Al-Asuquf: No, in spite of their age they've undergone modernization and are well hidden. Even if they were found, they have autodetonation provisions should anything get close to them. Even electromagnetic pulses would be incapable of deactivating them.

Al-Jazeera: Don't they emit radiation? Can't they be detected?

Al-Asuquf: No. They are wrapped in thick leaden cases.

Al-Jazeera: A suspected Pakistani ship was recently searched and all that was found were lead bars. Does this have anything to do with the bombs?

Al-Asuquf: Yes, however that lead was just an extra layer, and was not essentially necessary.

Al-Jazeera: How will the bombs be detonated?

Al-Asuquf: There are numerous methods, a cell-phone call, radio frequency, seismic shocks or by timer.

Al-Jazeera: Once detonated, how many deaths will be caused by these bombs?

Al-Asuquf: It depends, since our plans are very malleable.

Al-Jazeera: So what is the entire plan?

Al-Asuquf: The beginning will be the detonation of a nuclear device, which will cause the death of between 800 thousand and one million people and create chaos on a scale never seen before. During this chaos, two or three cropsprayers that are now dismantled and stored in granaries [silos?] close to little-used highways in the countryside will take off on suicide missions to spray two or three large American cities with smallpox. That means that once the smallpox has been identified, all airports and seaports will be closed by quarantine. Land borders will likewise be shut down. Not one airplane, ship or vehicle will enter or leave the United States. This will cause total chaos. White House Press secretary Ari Fleischman will be very busy.

Al-Jazeera: But the American government has guaranteed that within five days it could produce enough smallpox vaccine to inoculate the entire population. Al-Asuquf: There will be simultaneous suicide attacks against the vaccine production plants. Al-Jazeera: Which will be the first city?

Al-Asuquf: The first city will be that in which optimal conditions present themselves, for example, clear skies, and winds of eight miles-per-hour or less in the direction of the country's center so that radioactive dust can contaminate the maximum possible area.

Al-Jazeera: Will this attack annihilate the USA?

Al-Asuquf: No. But the process will have begun. Who will buy food products from the United States knowing they may have been contaminated by radiation? Who will travel to the United States knowing the possibility of contracting smallpox? Who will continue to invest in American institutions? Just as with the World Trade Center, it will be simply a question of time before the entire economic structure collapses and turns to dust. If our objectives are reached with one bomb and the smallpox, probably we'll save the lives of others, however that's risky [unlikely?], and it's probable that six more bombs will be detonated, one per week, and other attacks with chemical weapons will be carried out.

Al-Jazeera: How many innocent people will die?

Al-Asuquf: According to estimates made by me and Ayman Al-Zawahiro, somewhere around 15 million due to the atomic bombs and their radiation. Of those exposed to smallpox, 25 percent will die, approximately five million, and many more due to the ensuing chaos and disorder.

Al-Jazeera: What about the American military response?

Al-Asuquf: There will practically be none. Even if five or ten cities were chosen at random to be destroyed, that would still be a small price to pay. The problem is the economic despair will be so great that even economizing by not using arms unnecessarily will occur, since the liquidity of American goods will be almost zero and at that point the United States will make more selling its Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, which cost about five billion dollars, to Turkey or Italy for one billion dollars, since the country will so urgently need to recapitalize, though it will be too late. Moreover, how will the morale of American soldiers be knowing that their entire families have died and their country no longer exists. Fight for what?

Al-Jazeera: And won't the global economy also be ruined?

Al-Asuquf: In the beginning it will be very difficult; a serious economic crisis will ensue. However, without the United States, the world will soon arise in a more just and fraternal manner.

Al-Jazeera: And Israel?

Al-Asuquf: As they say... it will be dessert.

Al-Jazeera: Does bin Laden's spokesman, Sulaiman Abu Gheith, know that you are giving this interview?